Saturday Daytona Notebook: Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch hope to battle for Supra superiority; Late to the party in an old car, Kaz Grala runs fifth at Daytona; Kurt Busch still waiting to talk 2019 contract with Stewart-Haas.[More](7-7-2018)

What to watch for: Daytona International Speedway: Kyle Busch Continues His Winning Ways; Can Dillon Do It Again?; A Wild Card Before the Playoffs; Who's Hot and Who's Not - Daytona.[More](7-6-2018)

Thursday Daytona Notebook: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. hopes to seize best opportunity at Daytona; Bubba Wallace promise emotional display if he wins on Saturday; Elliott Sadler would settle for an extra fraction of a second.[More](7-5-2018)

Erik Jones gets first victory in action-packed Daytona free-for-all: In a wild war of attrition that went to two overtimes, Erik Jones outdueled Martin Truex Jr. on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway to seize the first victory of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career. In a Coke Zero Sugar 400 that went eight laps beyond its scheduled 160, Jones passed the reigning series champion on the backstretch of the final lap and held on to win by .125 seconds. Jones battled back from damage sustained in a multicar wreck on Lap 65, an accident that cost him a lap.[More](7-7-2018)

Erik Jones won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway. The win is the first of his career.
#78-Truex, Jr. finished 2nd followed by #47-Allmendinger, #95-Kahne, #37-Buescher, #13-Dillon, #32-DiBenedetto, #31-Newman, #3-Dillon, and #88-Bowman.
Pole winner #9-Elliott, was caught in the big one and finished 34th.
The big one came on lap 55 after #24-Byron checked up and #2-Keselowski backed off. #17-Stenhouse, Jr got into Keselowski, sending him up into #41 Busch. The track closed up and caught over half the field in the accident. Cars involved were: #1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 32, 41, 42, 43, 48, 72, 88, 95. Several were able to continue though.
The race took two Overtime attempts to complete. On the first Overtime attempt, Truex, Jr was leading coming to the white flag, but a caution came out just before he took the flag. Truex, Jr. still led on the final restart but could not hold off Jones, who restarted 2nd.
Stages 1 and 2 were both won by #17-Stenhouse, Jr. He was involved in several accidents throughout the race and finished 17th.
There were 25 lead changes among 16 drivers and 10 cautions for 46 yellow flag laps.
The average speed of the race was: 130.435mph.
See unofficial race results, awards, laps led, cautions and more at:Unofficial Race Results (pdf)Cumulative Report (pdf)Penalty Report (pdf)
See OFFICIAL race results & points standings on the Official Race & Points Report (pdf).

Race Fast Facts - Daytona
Erik Jones won the 60th Annual Coke Zero Sugar 400, his first victory in 57 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series races.
This is his first victory and eighth top-10 finish in 2018.
This is his first victory and second top-10 finish in four races at Daytona International Speedway.
Martin Truex Jr. (second) posted his fourth top-10 finish in 27 races at Daytona International Speedway. It is his 12th top-10 finish in 2018.
AJ Allmendinger (third) posted his sixth top-10 finish in 19 races at Daytona International Speedway.
Bubba Wallace (14th) was the highest finishing rookie.
Kyle Busch leads the point standings by 57 points over Kevin Harvick.
(NASCAR Integrated Sports Marketing)(7-7-2018)

Wave Around: how the wave around rule works: All vehicles between the leader and the caution vehicle at the start/finish line when the "one to go" signal is given by the starter are considered "Wave Around" eligible. "Wave Around" vehicles will not be permitted to enter pit road at any time during this yellow flag/caution period. "Wave Around" vehicles must receive the green flag on the race track before being permitted to enter pit road without a penalty. Vehicles under a penalty and the "Free Pass" vehicle will not be eligible to receive a "Wave Around".

Pit Stall Selections: The selections of pit stalls for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway have been made.
With 40 cars running, pit stalls 1, 2, & 3 are not in use.
Pole sitter #9-Elliott took pit stall 4 [the first available pit stall].
Outside pole winner #88-Bowman. took pit stall 21, with an opening in front of it.
#2-Keselowski, who starts 3rd, took the 9th stall.
The final pit stall was taken by #48-Johnson, who starts 4th.
To see where the drivers/teams pit stall is, see the pit selection chart on Jayski.com's Pit Stall Selection chart.(7-6-2018)

Chase Elliott dominates qualifying for third Daytona pole: A sprained ankle didn't prevent Chase Elliott from putting his foot to the floorboard on Friday at Daytona International Speedway. Elliott powered around the 2.5-mile track in 46.381 seconds (194.045 mph) to win the pole position for Sunday's Coke Zero Sugar 400 (7 p.m. on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) by a whopping .24 seconds over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Alex Bowman (193.046 mph).[More](7-6-2018)

Chase Elliott won the Busch pole for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway with speed of 194.045mph for his 1st pole of 2018, 3rd at Daytona and 4th of his career.
#88-Bowman will start 2nd followed by #2-Keselowski, #48-Johnson, #4-Harvick, #17-Stenhouse, Jr., #31-Newman, #34-McDowell, #14-Bowyer, #3-Dillon, #22-Logano, and #12-Blaney.
#9-Elliott was also fastest in the first round with a speed of 193.991mph.
Driver who will miss the race: #92-Peters
See round-by-round qualifying results on the Qualifying results page (pdf) and the complete starting lineup on the Starting Lineup page (pdf).(7-6-2018)

Daytona International Speedway - Qualifying Fast Facts:
Chase Elliott won the Pole Award for the 60th Annual Coke Zero Sugar 400 with a lap of 46.381 seconds, 194.045 mph.
This is his fourth pole in 95 NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series races.
This is his first pole and ninth top-10 start in 2018.
This is his third pole in six races at Daytona International Speedway.
Alex Bowman (second) posted his fourth top-10 start of 2018 and his second in five races at Daytona International Speedway.
Brad Keselowski (third) posted his fifth top-10 start at Daytona International Speedway. It is his 12th in 18 races this season.
William Byron (18th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.
(NASCAR Statistics)(7-6-2018)

Coverage of Qualifying for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway is scheduled for Friday, July 6, 2018 at 5:30pm/et.
Television (TV): NBCSN, 4:00pm/et
Radio: Live online at Motor Racing Network (MRN)

Superspeedway Qualifying Format for Daytona/Talladega: The qualifying format at superspeedways consists of the following:
· Two rounds of qualifying, with the top-12 posted lap speeds advancing to the second round
· Race vehicles taking one, timed lap in each round of qualifying
· Each race vehicle will be released in a predetermined timed interval as determined by NASCAR, with the sanctioning body reserving the right to have more than one vehicle engaging in qualifying runs at the same time
· Qualifying order for the first round was be determined by practice speeds, slowest to fastest; final round qualifying order is determined by slowest to fastest speeds from the first round
· A 10-minute break will occur between the first qualifying round and the final round
· Upon completion of the first qualifying round, the field will be set with positions 13 and beyond determined from first round qualifying speed
· The 12 fastest vehicles from the first round will have their speeds reset for the final round with starting positions 1-12 determined by the fastest laps in the final round
· NASCAR will impound race vehicles following each qualifying lap; vehicles advancing to the final round will be allowed to adjust tape and utilize a cool-down unit during the 10-minute break only.

Qualifying Order for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway is posted.
The qualifying order for the two restrictor plates races (Daytona/Talladega) is different.
The order for the 1st round is set by practice speeds (both practices combined) from Thursday, slowest to fastest.
The first driver scheduled to make an attempt in round 1 is #99-Cassill (slowest overall).
The final driver scheduled to make an attempt is #14-Bowyer (fastest overall).
For the 2nd round, the remaining 12 cars line up by speed, slowest to fastest.
For the qualifying order, see the Qualifying Order page (pdf).

Happy Hour (final) practice for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway was canceled due to rain. The session got underway for just a couple minutes before the rain hit. No drivers completed a lap.(7-5-2018)

Entry List for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway is posted, 41 teams/drivers [for 40 spots] are listed.
36 teams with Charters are guaranteed to make the field. The rest need to make the field via qualifying / qualifying races / rules book (owners attempts/points).
Some of the drivers entered include: #00-Gase, #6-Bayne, #7-Jeffrey Earnhardt, #15-Chastain, #23-Yeley, #51-Black, #62-Gaughan, #72-LaJoie, #92-Peters, #96-Kennington, #99-Cassill.
Drivers required to qualify on time: #7-Earnhardt, #62-Gaughan, #92-Peters, #96-Kennington, #99-Cassill.
Since 41 cars are entered, one driver will not make the race.
See the full entry list on the Entry List (pdf)

How to Calculate Track Speeds: use the formula Speed = Distance divided by Time. Distance is Track Length, and Lap Time into Hours. Once hour is 3600 seconds, so the calculation for a 48 second lap at Daytona(2.5 miles) would be: Speed = 2.5 x (3600/48), = 2.5 x 75 = 187.500mph. For a 19 second lap at Daytona(.533 miles): Speed = .533 x (3600/19), = .533 x 189.474 = a speed of 100.990mph